London Couple Recovers Stolen Jaguar After Police “Too Stretched” to Help

London, UK – A west London couple took matters into their own hands this week, successfully tracking down and reclaiming their stolen Jaguar after reporting police were “too stretched” to assist in the immediate recovery. The incident highlights growing concerns about vehicle theft and police response times in the capital.

Mia Forbes Pirie and her husband Mark Simpson discovered their Jaguar E-Pace, valued at approximately £46,000, had been stolen from outside their Brook Green home in Hammersmith on the morning of Tuesday, June 3rd. Crucially, the vehicle was equipped with an Apple AirTag, a small tracking device.

Upon reporting the theft to police, the couple says they received a “vague” response. Despite informing officers they had the AirTag and could pinpoint the car’s location, they were advised a patrol car “might” be sent.

“I wanted to act quite quickly as my fear was that we would find the AirTag and not the car when it was discarded on to the street without the car,” Ms. Forbes Pirie explained.

Deciding not to wait, the couple used the AirTag to trace their vehicle to a street in Chiswick, a mere nine-minute drive away. “It felt like a bit of an adventure, it was exciting, a little bit of a fun thing to do, to see if we could find our car,” she recounted.

To their relief, the Jaguar was found in a parking space. However, the thieves had managed to bypass the car’s factory-fitted immobiliser. Fortunately, a second, aftermarket immobiliser the couple had installed had prevented the car from being driven away. They contacted the software company for the aftermarket immobiliser, who, after verifying ownership, remotely unlocked the vehicle, allowing them to retrieve it.

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Ms. Forbes Pirie speculated that the thieves were “quite sophisticated” and likely intended to move the car to a quieter location. “I think I thought the police would act quicker considering they had a location for it, but I know they also very stretched,” she added.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed the couple had informed officers of their intention to recover the car and were advised to contact police again if assistance was needed at the scene.A spokesperson stated, “This investigation is ongoing and officers met the victim on Tuesday, 10 June as part of their inquiries.”

This incident comes amidst concerning statistics regarding vehicle theft in London. Met figures show 33,530 offences of “theft or unauthorised taking” of a motor vehicle in the capital in 2024, a 1.6% increase from the previous year.Alarmingly, there were only 326 “positive outcomes” from these cases, including charges or cautions, representing a success rate of less than 1%.

The couple’s proactive approach echoes similar stories of individuals using personal trackers to recover stolen property, as highlighted in previous reports such as “How I led police to a thief and got my bike back” and “Scaffolder finds stolen truck using hidden AirTag.” The high success rate of self-recovery through tracking devices, contrasted with the low police “positive outcome” rate, raises questions about resource allocation and strategies for combating rising vehicle crime.

The case also sheds light on the ongoing “summer of disruption” in London, with various events and increasing demands on police resources, potentially impacting their ability to respond to non-violent crimes with immediate on-site assistance.